Life

With the Rolling Stones, Keith Richards created the riffs, the lyrics and the songs that roused the world, and over four decades he lived the original rock-and-roll life: taking the chances he wanted, speaking his mind, and making it all work in a way that no one before him had ever done. Now, at last, the man himself tells us the story of life in the crossfire hurricane. And what a life....

I really enjoyed this book, one of the best audio books I have listened to. It had the feeling of sitting in the company of someone who knows how to tell a story and tells it well. Anecdotes (quite a few of those) and lots of facts about Keef himself and the Stones. If you are remotely interested in rock music, the seventies or just want a good listen, this is the book for you. Don't miss it!

A. Lincoln: A Biography

In this important new biography, Ronald C. White, Jr. offers a fresh and fascinating definition of Lincoln as a man of integrity - what today's commentators are calling "authenticity" - whose internal moral compass is the key to understanding his life. Through meticulous research, utilizing recently discovered Lincoln letters, legal papers, and photographs, White depicts Lincoln as a person of intellectual curiosity, comfortable with ambiguity, and capable of changing his mind.

Somehow I have found that I particularly enjoy listening to biographies. Up to now I have listened to books about Einstein, Steve Jobs, Robert Oppenheimer and Ivar Kruger. I really expected a lot from this biography and I wanted to like it and enjoy it. But it skipped over the years up to Lincoln's run for the senate and then went into a very detailed account of a series of debates and analyzed the speeches almost word for word. I am sorry to say that I gave up after having listened to the first half of the second part (there are four parts to this audiobook) so I did not even finish half the the entire book. I am not really sure whether I ought to write a review on a book I haven't finished, but I reckoned it is OK because I have a strong view on it.

Hughes: The Private Diaries, Memos and Letters: The Definitive Biography of the First American Billionaire

In "the most exciting bio of the year," Richard Hack uses recently uncovered (and in some cases, recently declassified) personal letters, court testimony, FBI files, autopsy reports and exclusive interviews to reveal the man who was a legendary lover, record-setting aviator, award-winning film producer, talented inventor, ultimate eccentric, and, for much of his lifetime, the richest man in the United States.

I enjoyed this book and learned a lot about Hughes. I think it was a balanced account, and the author did a good job. We get to hear about both good and bad sides of Hughes and the people around him. There is a lot of details, and I really wonder how on earth the author knows about some of them. He describes a can on a lawn and how that can ended up under some bushes and remained there for many months. One can't help wondering how the author knows about this, and the question then arises about so many other details - are they true or invented for the sake of art? The book tended to focus on the private life of Huhges - the women, the flying and so on, and I would have liked to hear a little bit more about the business side. All in all, a good read and well worth it.

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